Stocks Gain for the Fourth Day in a Row

According to the news report by MarketWatch, the American stock market extended gains for the fourth day in a row on Wednesday after reports came that indicated that the US and China had made progress in resolving the ongoing trade war.

The S&P 500 Index closed the day up by 0.4% to 2,585 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average went up by 0.4%, or 91 points, to close the trading day at 23,878 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index also gained, going up by 0.9% to close the day up at 6,957 points.

Reports revealed that the trade negotiations between the US and China ended on Wednesday and that American President Donald Trump is said to have urged making a deal soon that would help boost stock markets.

According to the news report by Bloomberg, stocks did not rise as high as they could have since the trade talks were generally inconclusive and investors were worried that nothing had materialized that would add momentum to these discussions.

At that point, all the major indices in the US declined before finally closing up for the day.

European and Asian stocks did not fare as well. The STOXX Europe 600 lost some of the gains from Wednesday is today’s trading and stocks across Asia were also down. However, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index traded down only marginally.

Overall, the S&P 500 futures in Europe traded down 0.5% today, the first decline it has seen all week. The STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped by 0.3%, which is its largest drop this week. The FTSE 100 Index in the UK was down by 0.1% and the German DAX Index dropped by 0.2%.

In Asia, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell marginally by 0.05%, making it the first decline in the last one week. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index went up by 0.3% to touch its highest in the last 5 weeks.

In currencies, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index went up marginally by 0.05%, the Euro slipped by 0.05% to trade at $1.1539, the British Pound fell by 0.3% to trade at $1.2756 and the Japanese Yen went up by 0.1% to trade at ¥108.06 to the dollar.

There was a broad advance in treasuries yields and bonds. The 10-year Treasuries yield went down by 1 basis point to 2.70%. The German 10-year yield slipped by 2 basis points to 0.26% and the UK’s 10-year yield slipped 1 basis point to 1.251%.

In commodities, the US benchmark for crude oil prices, the West Texas Intermediate dropped by 0.7% to trade at $51.98 per barrel. The benchmark had surged into a bull market this week, before this drop, which is its first fall in the last 2 weeks.

The price of gold went up by less than 0.05% to trade at $1,294.09 per ounce, which is the highest the precious metal has been this week.

Since the beginning of this year, the stocks markets across the globe have had some relief, thanks to optimism that there is progress being made in the trade negotiations between the US and China. Adding to that optimism is a more softened stance by the US Federal Reserve with regard to interest rate hikes this year.

The dark clouds that still stops stock markets from soaring is the concern over the partial shutdown in the US government and the recently released inflation data from China that shows that growth is slowing down in the country.

Manulife Asset Management’s head of global asset allocation Nathan Thooft, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, stated that market volatility was here to stay.

Luis Aureliano is a business writer and financial analyst. With over 15 years of experience in global finance and an MBA in economics and management, Luis’s areas of expertise include business, marketing, communications, personal finance, macro economics, stocks and emerging markets.

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